An Abstract Floral Painting Comes To Life

Hello you!

First, I want to say thank you to everybody who has been checking out my Artists Sunday page on my website. In case you didn't know, the clever people who are creating our online world have given me a report that tells me how many people are visiting my website! I see you and say thank you very much. I'm thankful for everything I'm receiving through my art practice. It has really shifted my life into something so full of joy and acceptance. For the most part, my life has always been good, but shifting into making art full time has changed my thoughts for the better. I have a lot more positive thoughts which lead to more positive feelings and actions.

I want to share my thought process while creating a new abstract floral painting. It's finished and listed on my website. It is 36"x 36" and is titled, 'You Will Always Know'. I took it with me to my art show in Paso Robles in November. I love how it turned out and it received very good reviews because of the striking use of color.

How did I get to the end of this abstract floral painting? Well it's the same process I've had for the past decade because my creative process doesn't really change. The outcome changes, the paintings change, the tools change, the colors change, but my creative process is pretty much the same. To begin is actually to get ready to begin. I seldom dive into any painting project until I've walked myself through at least some series of actions that help me separate from the "busy-ness" of my life. I like to drop my attention from my head to my heart and some of my go-to actions are music and movement, meditation and journaling or cleaning and clearing! Once begin to paint I'm responding to my intuition and whether that's actually coming from my heart or my head isn't important to me and I'm not analyzing it. I follow its lead, making marks, choosing a color, changing tools. That's how the beginning layers of my paintings always begin and I'm very comfortable with that. Soon I begin turning the canvas, adding a layer, letting it dry, turning again and layering. Maybe I'll add fabric or papers. There are a lot of things that happen along the way that I don't plan on. I have a headful of ideas and I let them come randomly. I really enjoy the colors coming forward and seeing a pattern and depth appear. Here are photos I took at the end of each painting session. You can see how I'm adding layers and turning the canvas.

When I see something in the painting that I want to pursue, that's the hardest part for me to explain to you. I feel it inside my body that it's right and then I work at making that shape or whatever I'm seeing come forward. In the photo on the bottom right, I'm really drawn to the dark blue on the bottom and the pink shapes dancing their way from the green at the top to the yellow to the blue. I also like the white lines across the bottom and the little white circles. I think this is the hardest part to explain because it doesn't make logical sense. If someone had told me, "you're just going to put all this paint and paper and marks in there and you're going to turn it around and magically something is going appear", I would've thought they were crazy! All I know is that I believe that it works and because I believe it works, it works for me every time.

I'm finishing up my art showings this year with my Artists Sunday selection of paintings on my website (open until tomorrow night) and our last First Friday Open Studio on Friday, December 1st from 3-7 pm. I'm planning to be in your inbox a few times in December with ideas and inspiration so watch for me there. All my best to you and yours for happy and healthy holidays!

In gratitude,

Susie